1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to air conditioning units and more specifically to a free standing air conditioning unit using forced air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the energy crisis a great concern, people have generally been preoccupied with maximizing the use of cheap and inexpensive fuels. A major effort has been to include heat collectors in fireplaces to collect the heat normally generated by the wood burning therein and to transmit it into the room more efficiently than that provided by the normally designed fireplace. A forced air system in combination with such heat collectors is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,785.
Even before the energy crisis, people were concerned with the loss of heat escaping through the flue of a heating source. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,490,135 and 3,094,980 make use of the flue heat in a stove and fireplace respectively to heat a second column of forced air which is introduced into the room in which the stove or fireplace is located.
Prior art space heaters have also been used or converted to fireplaces to provide a pleasing and second mode of heating. An example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,944,626.
Although showing many methods of recapture of heat loss by normal fireplace or space heaters, the prior art has not made the most effective use of the heating source. Similarly, the prior art had not recognized the ability of a properly designed heating unit to be used also as a cooling unit. It should be noted that the word "air conditioner" as used in the title of the invention, the description of the invention and the claims is to be any device which modifies the ambient temperature, be it by heating or cooling.